Introduction: How to Make Monster Feet

These feet were made for some muppet costumes I made....Dr Teeth and Animal. They were easy to wear and everyone loved them!! They can easily be doctored up with toenails, claws, different shoes, etc.

Items needed include: Approximately 1yd of fleece fabric
Approximately 1 1/2 yards of 1 inch foam (I bought a roll at Walmart)
1/2 yard heavy duty fabric for soles (canvas, duck cloth)
Hot glue gun
cardboard
needle and thread
polyester stuffing to stuff toes

Step 1: Make Pattern

Put on the pair of shoes you plan on wearing inside your monster feet (low profile is best...the only thing between you and the ground will be the shoes, a layer of cardboard and a layer of canvas.)

Outline your foot on a piece of paper with a little bit of space around it and cut it out with scissors.
This will be your pattern.

Step 2: Choose the Shape of the Monster Foot

Lay your foot cutout (pattern) on a piece of cardboard so the ribs of the cardboard are going across the foot (see picture.) This will help the foot flex better. Decide what shape you want your monster foot to be. I just wanted extra large feet (don't add toes to it now since those will be added later)

Draw the shape of your monster foot around the paper pattern leaving at least 3/4 inch of space between paper pattern and drawn line. Cut this out of the cardboard and use it to cut a 2nd one. Remember to flip the 2nd cardboard piece over to make a left and right monster foot or you'll end up with 2 rights or 2 lefts!!

You will need the paper pattern for the next step do don't discard it yet!!

Step 3: Cutting Out the Foam Feet

Lay the cardboard cutout on the foam and trace around it 6 times (sharpy marker works great for this.) (1st picture)

Cut all of them out. (2nd picture)

Lay the paper foot pattern on one foam cutout and trace around it. Cut on the traced line. (3rd picture) You will 4 total of these cutouts which leaves you with 2 whole foam cutouts left. (used in next step)

Step 4: Assembling the Foot

Use your hot glue gun and glue the first foam cutout to the cardboard cutout. Foam doesn't hot glue well so make sure you have some good pressure on it til it cools and holds. (1st picture)

Glue a 2nd foam cutout on top of the first (2nd picture) Again hold this til it cools enough to hold (flipping it over and pushing it face down on the table works well.)

For the opposite foot this is where you want to flip over the cardboard cutout to make a left or right foot!!

Step 5: Assembling the Foot Continued....

Using one of the last foam pieces lay the paper cut out on the foam and draw around the heel section of it. Instead of tracing out the whole foot you'll just want to make an oval so you can fit your shoe into the monster foot. I just guessed at the size. (1st picture)

Cut on the line and use the cut out to do the same on the last foam cutout. (2nd picture)

Glue one of these cutouts to each foot. Again pressing down well so glue holds. (3rd picture)

Step 6: Adding the Fleece to Your Foot

If you have ever upholstered a chair cushion this step is just like that.

Set your foam foot on your piece of fleece so the stretch goes across the foot. (1st picture)

Make sure you have enough fabric at the heel and toe of the foot to wrap over the top somewhat. (2nd picture)

Flip foot over and place on fleece (3rd picture)

Put some hot glue on the toe section of the cardboard and pull fleece up and over glue pushing down on whole foot so it compresses the foam and rounds out the top edge of foot. (4th and 5th picture)

Repeat above step with heel section and sides of foot (6th picture) Remember there will be more stretch in the sides of the foot so pull tighter than the toe and heel.

Flip foot over and make sure fleece is on foot as tight as you wish it to be. (7th picture)

Finish gluing fleece to bottom of foot easing fabric around the curves.  Trim off excess fabric.  (8th picture)

Finished body of foot (9th picture)

Step 7: Cutting Slit for Foot

Cut a small slit over oval cutout in fleece.  Start small and try to fit your shoe into it.  The slit can always be cut larger!!  I didn't cut an oval since I thought the slit would help hold the foot on someone with smaller feet it someone else were to wear it.  (I thought right!!)

Step 8: Making and Attaching Toes

Make a pattern for your toes (Make a large toe pattern and a small toe pattern) Its best to make one toe and decide if its the right size for your foot. This will be trial and error.

When you decide on the size of the toes lay your pattern out on your fleece so the stretch goes across the toes) and trace around it . (You will need 4 large toe cutouts and 12 small toe cutouts (you can always double up your fabric and do less cutting!) This is if you want 4 toes on each foot you can have as many toes as you want of course!! (1st picture)

Cut out all your toes (2nd picture)

Sew around your toes leaving the base of toes open for turning and stuffing. Trim seam allowance...you can get pretty close to the stitching since the fleece will not fray like other fabrics. Turn toes right side out and stuff them to the firmness you desire. Run a gathering stitch around the base of your toes using your needle and thread and pull tight to close up the toes. You can always add more stuffing now if you decide you want you're toes "harder" (3rd picture)

Pin the toes on the foot where you want them. I started with the large toe and pinned the rest on. Pin the top of the toes and the underneath of the toes. It helps to keep them in place when gluing them on. I put my toes on the upper rounded edge of the foot so I wouldn't trip on them and to make it easier going up stairs!! (4th picture)

Un-pin the top of either the 2nd or 3rd small toes and put some hot glue on the base of it. The bottom pin helps keep the toe in place while you are gluing it. Hold the toe in place til the glue cools. I re-pinned it once it set a little just so it held securely. Do the other small toes the same way then the large one. Once all the toes were glued I added a little glue between each toe and squished them together til the glue cooled. Once all is secure remove the pins.  (5th picture)

Step 9: Adding Canvas to Bottom of Foot

Set foot on piece of canvas or duck cloth (any other durable fabric would work too)  I was trying to think of some kind of rubber, no slip fabric to use but I had this on hand.  Trace around foot with marker.   (1st picture)

Cut out sole of foot slightly inside of traced line.  (2nd picture)

Use this cutout to make a 2nd cutout for other foot.

Hot glue the sole of foot onto the monster foot.  (3rd picture)

Step 10: Adding Accessories to Your Feet

You can dress up your monster feet however you want to...These feet needed some sandals so I cut strips of leather looking fabric and glued it around the base of each foot and criss-crossed it over the top. Turned out pretty cute!! You can even add toenails for a different look!!

Your monster feet are done!! I hope you had fun making them!!!

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